Resolution runners take plunge

Posted: Wednesday, Jan 9th, 2013BY: Rick Beasley

Michael Capri, 16, crosses the finish line — Yaquina Bay — during the first-ever Newport Resolution Run, which attracted 113 runners last Sunday. Capri’s time in the Polar Bear Plunge, one of four races, was 18:36. First place honors for the 5K race went to Jeremy Turner, 16, with a time of 18:08, a 5:50 pace. The Beer Mile Run was won by Dave Larsen, 41, who quaffed beer at the quarter-mile markers but managed a 6:05 pace, nonetheless. (Photo by Rick Beasley)

Peggy O’Callaghan was determined to take the plunge into chilly Yaquina Bay last Sunday until she arrived at the starting line, where the 57-year-old runner had second thoughts about the wet finale to the Coast Hills Running Club’s first-ever Resolution Run.

“I was hot after running,” said O’Callaghan, one of more than a hundred people who registered for races that included two 5Ks, wet or dry, a one-mile beer run and a children’s’ miler. “It was a good cool-off.”

The plunge may have dampened runners, but it did nothing to extinguish the newfound passion for running in Newport where the turnout for recent club-sponsored events has surprised organizers.

“We keep asking ourselves what is causing this, and all we can say is it seems like something the community wants,” said Ed Cortes, 41, who appeared shocked at Sunday’s turnout. “We decided to do a turkey run at Thanksgiving and had a huge turnout. Today, we had 93 people pre-registered and another 20 signed up the day of the event, and we only announced it three weeks ago.”